INGLEWOOD — Maybe it was playing at Intuit Dome and the energy derived from the home crowd. Maybe it was seeing guard Bradley Beal in uniform after he missed the past two games because of back issues. Or maybe it was the thought of dropping below .500 so early into the new season.
Whatever has been bothering the Clippers was replaced by a sense of urgency Friday and they came up with a less-than-smooth 126-124 victory over the winless New Orleans Pelicans in their NBA Cup opener.
The Clippers held off a late run by the Pelicans, who had closed the gap to 124-122 with 19 seconds left. Zion Williamson went to the line and made both foul shots to tie the game with 9.6 seconds remaining.
Kawhi Leonard then got the ball from James Harden above the 3-point line, dribbled to his left and pulled up for a 20-foot winner at the buzzer.
It was a much-needed victory after their embarrassing loss two nights earlier in the Bay Area, even if they encountered a determined Pelicans team down the stretch.
New Orleans (0-5) came back from a 17-point deficit in the third quarter to tie the game at 107 apiece halfway through the fourth. Derrick Jones Jr. responded with a 3-pointer followed by a jumper by Leonard with 4:13 left to put the Clippers up 113-107.
The Pelicans continued to threaten, pulling back to within 113-111 on a driving layup by Jordan Poole with 3:34 to go, only to have the Clippers (3-2) respond each time with a blocked shot, a rebound or big shots by Leonard.
At one point, Leonard scored 12 consecutive points in a three-minute span in the fourth.
Coach Tyronn Lue said before the game that trust issues were the underlying problem for a 79-point output in losing by 19 to the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday.
“We didn’t make the right decisions or the right passes and just stopped trusting was the No. 1 thing I would say,” Lue said. “We just got to be better with that. If we’re getting good shots and generating good shots, we got to continue to play the right style of basketball.”
Trust wasn’t the Clippers’ biggest problem against the Pelicans. They couldn’t stop the Pelicans from beyond the arc, which allowed New Orleans to twice take the lead in the first half and kept them in the game in the final quarter. The league’s worst 3-point shooting team connected on 12 of 25 shots (48.0%) from long range in the first 24 minutes and finished by making 18 of 37 (48.6%).
The Pelicans’ hot shooting enabled them to keep pace with the Clippers until Harden got hot in the final 1:40 of the half, scoring twice and then trusting Jones twice with two long passes for high-flying dunks to propel the Clippers to a 67-59 lead at intermission.
Harden scored 16 of his 24 points in the first half and finished with 14 assists. Leonard scored a team-high 34 points. Ivica Zubac scored 14 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. None of them showing the shocking fatigue that put them on the bench against the Warriors.
The Clippers continued to pressure the Pelicans, who fell behind by as many as 17 with 4:12 left in the third quarter. New Orleans managed to trim the deficit to 92-84 on a pair of free throws by Poole and had a chance to further cut the lead but turned the ball over.
Coming into the game, Lue was most concerned about Williamson, who was averaging 21.7 points, 6.3 rebounds and 4.7 assists. The Pelicans star finished with 29 points, six rebounds and three assists. He made Lue sweat briefly as his two free throws following a 3-point play by Poole and a layup by Derik Queen cut the Clippers’ lead 96-94 at the start of the fourth.
“I think he poses a huge threat against a lot of teams because of his versatility, being able to attack the basket, being able to get to the free-throw line,” Lue said. “He’s faster than most centers and he’s stronger and bigger than most 3s and 4s, so he poses a strong disadvantage at a lot of different positions.”
Poole led the Pelicans with 30 points. Trey Murphy added 17 points, five rebounds and six assists.
The Pelicans were without Dejounte Murray (Achilles) and Kevon Looney (knee).
More to come on this story.